by Alex Mulder
“Stay close,” said Luke. “We can’t stop moving until we’ve reached the Inner Plains.”
The sun was hanging in the sky behind them as they slipped beneath the canopy of the trees. Luke had only taken a couple of steps forward into the foliage when a soft rumbling came from the valley.
“What was that?” asked the woman.
Luke looked and immediately realized their situation was growing more dangerous by the second. Magma was erupting in spurts from the crater of a nearby volcano, splashing out into the jungle behind and to the sides of them. They had a minute, maybe two at most, before it set fire to the trees, the vegetation, and them.
“We have to move fast!” yelled Luke. “Stay close!”
He grabbed onto the hand of the woman, who grabbed onto the hand of her daughter, and began moving forward. A Red Nyoka slithered out of a nearby hole, but Luke put it down with several quick, coordinated strikes. He then used Conjure Sword to create an additional sword for defense.
The dense jungle limited how fast they could move. Luke took a look back at the volcano as they pushed deeper in and saw that lava was nearing the edge of the trees. He began using the conjured sword to cut through the grass and bushes, wishing that he’d invested more attribute points in Speed.
“Don’t stop!” he cried. “We’re almost there!”
To the left, he saw another Nyoka Combine fighting with a creature that looked like a zombified gorilla. Luke tried to pull the woman and the girl past before they were noticed but both monsters turned their attention away from each other and toward the group.
“Keep going!” Luke stepped to shield the woman and her daughter from the oncoming attacks. “I’ll catch up with you in a minute!”
He only just barely managed to get the words out when snakes began wrapping him up the same way they had before. This time, there were five on him before he could do anything about it. Luke whirled and killed one of them with a lucky strike, hearing the familiar chime of his experience bar ticking over to the next level.
LEVEL 8 ATTAINED
NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: CONJURE SWORD 2
“What…?” Luke didn’t have any time to examine his upgraded powers or drop in his new attribute points. The gorilla monster was lunging toward him, and he reflexively swung his blade at it.
CORRUPTED KENDRO: One of the fallen monsters created during the Severance Onslaught. Reproduces by killing and reconstituting the docile host Kendro.
Luke sensed the woman and her child close by. They had ignored his instruction to run.
“Get back!” Luke positioned himself in between them and their enemies.
CONJURE SWORD 2
Two conjured swords appeared instead of the one that Luke was used to. He focused and began using them to put up a fight against the Red Nyokas that had wrapped themselves around his legs and waist. Luke swung his original sword at the Corrupted Kendro, holding it at bay as the conjured swords played defense.
Luke whirled around, cutting through anything within range of his sword. Soon the air became thick with blades.
I need to get back to the soldier’s family!
He left his conjured swords behind to distract the monsters and looked around for the women. The lava had reached the trees, and behind him a wall of flame was approaching with surprising speed.
Luke spotted the woman and her daughter and felt his heart sink. A Nyoka Combine had enveloped them and the women appeared to be collapsing under the weight of the serpents.
“No!” Luke began chopping into the snakes but by the time he’d cut through all of the reptilian layers, it was already too late. The mother’s health bar was empty, and her body lay still. The flames behind him were closing in, and there was no time left.
“Mommy!” The little girl had survived but now fell to her knees beside her fallen mother. Luke scooped her up in his arms and began to sprint forward, feeling the heat of the inferno behind him closing down on his back.
He didn’t stop running, even after he’d crashed out of the jungle and into the clearing that separated the grass lands from the eastern reach. Tears were streaming from the little girl’s face, and a strange guilt had taken hold in Luke’s heart.
She was just an NPC, a non-playable character… Is this how I’m supposed to be feeling?
It was mid-morning in Stark Town, and finding the soldier again was made easier by the sun’s light. He stared at Luke blankly at first, and then his face shifted, becoming a mask of pain.
“Oh my god…” he cried. “Savannah… Did she?”
Luke nodded.
QUEST COMPLETED
LEVEL 9 ATTAINED
NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: ELEMENTAL INFUSION
It was too hard for him to look the man in the eyes, NPC or not. Luke took the gold reward that the man had promised him without a word and then walked away, not even bothering to think about the two levels worth of attribute points waiting to be assigned.
It’s just a game… It’s just a game.
The level up icon was flashing in the corner of Luke’s screen, along with a small red envelope that signified he’d received a new message. He reached into his bag and pulled out the letter.
Hey Kato!
I just got in-game, but I can only stay on for a couple of minutes. I left you a present in the guild hall, in case I don’t see you before I have to log off.
Tess
The message was exactly what Luke felt like he needed, but at the same time it made him feel vulnerable in a way that he never had before. He began walking through Stark Town toward Dunidan’s Rest, feeling as though he had something of his own to protect.
On his way there, Luke stopped in the merchant’s square to buy a couple of things with his newfound gold. His equipment was still decent for his level, and there was something else on his mind, something that pulled him toward the crafting ingredient merchant.
Luke left the merchant with a set of blueprints, and a satchel full of iron ore, almost enough to match what had been used in the building of his guild hall. He hurried through the southern section of the Inner Plains and across the border into the Sarchia Desert, hoping that Tess would still be around when he got to their zone.
The guild hall was empty when he arrived. Inside, there was another note lying on the ground, and underneath it was something that put a grin on his face the moment he saw it.
Hey, Kato,
I hope you enjoy it! An adventurer traded it to me in exchange for some water from the oasis. We’re sitting on a gold mine!
Tess
It was a rare one-handed longsword, the type of weapon that a Sword Saint could put to good use. Luke lifted it off the floor of the guild hall and took a closer look at it. It felt unwieldy in his hand, as though an intangible force was keeping him from being able to use it to its full potential.
WYVERN STRIKER
LEVEL REQUIRED: 8
Luke suddenly remembered the flashing level up icon in the corner of his screen and pulled out his journal. He divided the ten attribute points out between Strength, Agility, Endurance, Speed, and Luck, and slipped the journal back into his bag.
The sword gleamed as though it had only just been forged. There was a large sapphire encrusted into the handle. It shone the same color of blue as the larger moon in the night sky.
The hilt was wrapped in leather, and the cross guard had been forged into the actual blade. It felt light in his hand, now that he was at a high enough level to use it, it perfectly balanced and razor sharp.
I’ll have to thank Tess the next time I see her.
Luke looked forward to being able to build up the guild hall with her and delve into the world of Yvvaros even further, exploring the vast continent and discovering what the game had to offer. He walked outside the guild hall and using the iron and the leftover wood from the construction of the hall, he began working on his next objective.
Yvvaros allowed for player constructed buildings to be upgraded with a variety of different structure
s. After the encounter with Marcus and the Revolutionary Rebels, Luke had only one thing on his mind in regards to protecting their guild hall.
The blueprints he’d purchased were for a basic wall, and he pulled them out of his satchel to inspect. It was a resource intensive project, but the gold he’d earned from his last quest had been enough to get him the iron he needed for it.
It didn’t take long, certainly not as long as building a similar enclosure in real life would have taken. Soon enough he had the area fully walled in. He then fashioned a gate in the front, right across from the door to the guild hall and then took a look at his handiwork.
The oasis, the guild hall, and most of the fertile land in the zone had been sealed off. Anyone coming through from that point on would just see the dry desert and an outpost surrounded by a fence. The wall itself was not indestructible, but it would give them the time they needed to react to any outside invaders that wanted to move against them.
Not half bad, for a day’s work.
Luke walked back into the guild hall, taking a second to create two extra keys for the guild’s new gate. He pulled out parchment and envelopes from his bag and sent a key along with a message to both Tess and Silverstrike.
There. Now we’ll all have access, except for any new guild members that Silverstrike might have-
Luke’s body seized up as his headset was pulled off of him. His eyes hurt, and it took his mind several seconds to process the fact that he was back in his room, back in the real world. Standing in front of him was his dad, along with a woman that he had never seen before.
Not again…
CHAPTER 18
“And here’s my son…” Chris Smith stood next to Luke at his desk, holding a half-empty bottle of liquor in one hand and the hand of a lady friend in the other. “Making his old man proud by becoming a slave to a fucking video game.”
Luke turned and glared at his father.
Easy now, he’s drunk.
“It’s the video game that you helped design, dad,” he said. “Doesn’t that make you just as responsible?”
Chris Smith laughed and then whispered something in the woman’s ear, which caused her to also break out into a cackle.
“You think you’re so fucking clever,” he said. “You don’t know a goddamn thing.”
Luke stood up from his desk and resisted the urge to get in his dad’s face. Instead, he stood where he was and remained silent, waiting for the man to continue.
“Find somewhere else to be for the next few hours.” His dad’s words were slurred, but that didn’t reduce their bite. “We want the place to ourselves for a bit.”
Mom would be so proud if she could see us right now.
Luke bit his tongue and walked over to start packing up his laptop. At the very least, he figured he could check in with Ben and see if he could stay there for the night.
“Leave that shit.” Chris’s voice was sharp and angry. “I’m ashamed that my own son ever started playing it in the first place.”
“Dad, hold on, I-”
“Are you fucking arguing with me, Luke?”
Luke didn’t say anything.
He won’t hesitate to break things, including my bones, as drunk as he is.
Instead of putting up any further resistance, he walked around his dad and the woman and hurried down the stairs. It took every ounce of his willpower to not scream out in rage, to put a voice to the emotion that was welling up in his chest, like boiling water inside of a covered pot.
It’s not my fault…
Luke could still remember how his dad was, back before the man had changed into his current volatile self. He’d been a kind man, a loving father, and someone that he’d looked up to.
The car crash had changed everything. Luke had been there, sitting in the passenger seat. He’d been arguing with his mom about something insignificant, a toy that he’d wanted that she wouldn’t buy. She hadn’t seen the other car speeding toward them. The driver had been drunk and run a red light, and all Luke remembered was the sound of his own screaming and the blood.
If I’d just kept my mouth shut and let her focus on the road…
His mother’s loss had created an unbridgeable void. Luke had withdrawn, as had his father. As Luke had grown older and begun to live his own life, his guilt, and his father’s anger had intensified in proportion to each other.
Their relationship was broken, but in a way that made a twisted kind of sense. The way their dysfunctional relationship worked let both of them express their powerful emotions without ever requiring them to actually come to terms with them.
The first thing Luke did after being ejected from his home was to take a deep, calming breath. The second thing he did was slam his fist into the door of his dad’s car, causing no real damage beyond a small unnoticeable dent. His hand throbbed.
It was past nine, and the stars were clearly visible in the night sky. Luke walked down the street with no particular destination in mind. He thought about Yvvaros, about Ben and his avatar, about the guild hall, and about Tess. It was a world that made sense to him, unlike the one that he physically resided in.
He walked to the park, more out of habit than a conscious decision. It was beginning to cool off and Luke wished that he had a sweatshirt. He slowed as he approached one of the empty park benches.
“Luke…”
He turned around and saw Sam walking by on the sidewalk with a group of her friends. She said something to them and then split off. She walked over to him with an unhappy look on her face.
“Oh, hey,” he said. “What’s up, Sam?”
“You never texted back earlier. It feels like you’ve been avoiding me.”
Luke shrugged.
“What does it really matter, anyway?”
Sam glared at him and walked closer to the other side of the bench. She leaned forward against it, letting her face showcase all of her emotions.
“Luke, you… kissed me.” Her tone of voice started out full of anger, and then slowly softened as she went on. “It’s not like we can pretend that it didn’t happen.”
Luke’s chest felt tight with emotion.
“So what, Sam? You have a boyfriend, and it’s not me.”
Sam was silent for a long moment.
“You never used to be like this, so indifferent, and so… passive.” She paused and continued. “It’s the game, Luke. It’s that stupid VR game.”
Luke shook his head but said nothing.
“I know it is,” she said. “It’s changed you.”
“Why is it that everyone seems to view VR as a gateway to hell or something?” Luke sighed and stared up into the sky. “Maybe, just maybe, there is a reason why I find it so compelling. A reason that goes beyond wasting my time or escaping from my problems, whatever it is that you think.”
“Luke…”
Sam reached her hand out and set it on top of his.
“You’ve been going through something lately. I don’t know what it is, but…”
Sam’s emotions were staring out of the windows of her eyes.
“I want to be here for you, Luke.” She took a deep breath. “I want to be here for you more than I want to be with Mike.”
Sam slowly came around to the other side of the bench and let her arms wrap around Luke.
What…
“Sam… I…” Luke’s jaw was stupidly agape, and he blinked several times. “I don’t know what to say. Are you serious?”
Sam nodded and smiled at him with tears in her eyes.
“I’m serious.”
Without any hesitation, Luke pulled her tight against him. Her body was tiny and soft, but the static in his mind made it almost impossible for him to notice.
Tess…
“Luke…” Sam set her hand to his cheek, and the next thing Luke knew, they were kissing. She tasted like sweet strawberries, and he could feel her lips against his. “I want us to spend tomorrow together, Luke. I want us to go on a date, a real date.”
How in the world is this happening?
Despite himself, Luke began nodding.
This is Sam. This is what I used to dream about.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s… go on a date.”
Sam hugged him again, for a long time.
“I… I should get going.” She kissed him on the cheek and then slowly parted. “Text me. I’m serious about this, Luke.”
“Sam…”
She turned and walked away, looking over her shoulder at him as she went as if trying to impart some final hidden message. Luke’s heart skipped a strange rhythm, and for the first time in a long time, his physical body, his real body, felt happy and buoyant.
What does this mean for Kato? What does this mean for Tess?
He stood in the park for a long time. After a while, he began to wonder what time it was. He was acutely aware of much he needed sleep. Despite wanting to know the time, Luke was reluctant to check his phone. A text message from Sam or Ben, or Tess, if there was magically a way, could set his life on a new, uncharted course. Luke was scared of change.
A cold breeze swept against his back, sneaking in under the hem of his thin t-shirt.
Luke slowly began to head back to his place. He stood outside the front door once he’d reached the house, pressing his ear to it and listening in, confirming the silence before heading inside.
He was tired, and it didn’t take him long to get to sleep.
CHAPTER 19
Luke woke up comparatively early, for a Sunday. It was around the time that he’d usually get up for school, and he found himself wide awake.
Last night… did that really happen?
He reached over and grabbed his phone as if to confirm. A quick scan of the home screen revealed no new texts. Luke sighed and swung his legs over the edge of his bed, slowly rising to his feet.
After brushing his teeth and taking a shower, Luke took his time picking out an outfit. He wanted to spend as much of the day out of the house and away from his dad as possible. Ben would be around to work on the guild in-game. And then there was Sam…